Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life In A Doomsday Cult - Endnotes
These are the endnotes in my memoir. I've provided them here so they are easy to access, whether you are reading the paperback (I put a bookmark on the endnote page so I can easily access them as I read) or ebook (no hyperlinks in that version) or the audio book if one is produced. In the event you encounter URLs that no longer work (dead links) in the notes below, you can enter the URLs into the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine at web.archive.org/ and read archived copies.
Photographs
of many of
the people mentioned in this book can be
found at: https://perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/photos-of-people-mentioned-in-my-memoir.html
On this page you can find the full text of the1972 Newspaper Reports about the Children of God in British Columbia that I cite in Chapter 4: https://perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/1972-newspaper-reports-about-children.html
Chapter 1 – Gotta Serve Somebody
1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1250, www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3K.HTM
2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1022, www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2L.HTM
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1849–64,www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6A.HTM
4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1295, www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3R.HTM
Chapter 2 – California Dreamin'
1. In 2021, former members born and raised in the group began to speakout about the various forms of child abuse they experienced and referred to it as a cult. Ryan Burns, “Escaping Outreach: Former Members of Eureka Church Say It’s a Cult with a History of Hiding Sexual Abuse,”; Lost Coast Outpost, August 25, 2021, lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/aug/25/escaping-outreach-former-members-eureka-church-say/
2. Gospel Outreach Lighthouse Ranch played a major role in the Jesus People movement throughout the 1970s and ’80s, establishing one hundred communal churches around the world. See: Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (Baylor University Press, 2004)
Chapter 3 – He's Leaving Home
1.
Karen M. Staller, Runaways: How the
Sixties Counterculture Shaped Today’s
Practices and Policies (Columbia
University Press, 2006), cup.columbia.edu/author-interviews/staller-runaways
2. Stephan A. Kent, From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam Era (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001), 1–5
3. Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988), 265
4. See Stephen A. Kent note above. In Chapter 6 of Kent’s book, he discusses how the Children of God “rapidly attracted countercultural youth into its fold. Some of the recruits were wayward hippies; others, such as former members of the Jesus People Army in Vancouver, British Columbia, already were involved in Christian missionary activities; and a few of the converts were or had been antiwar activists and radicals....[Their founder]Berg offered American youth a new means for achieving their desired goal of revolution: through the lives that they would live within COG after they had been born again....In essence, Berg’s rhetoric resonated with the attitudes of his youthful followers by the manner in which it transformed anti-Americanism into theology....Idealistic youth, sometimes propelled by the perceived shortcomings of their own generation, and always compelled by promises of dramatic social change, chose to commit themselves to high-demand beliefs that always rested upon supernatural claims....These new faiths gave to their converts what direct political protest no longer could provide, hope for the appearance of a purified world.”
5.
A year after I joined the Children of God, their founder, David Berg, compared
his group to the Franciscan order in his review of
Franco Zeffirelli’s 1972 film
Brother Sun, Sister Moon,
based on the life of Saint Francis. See:
David Berg, “Brother Sun,” April 1973, http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0225.shtml
Chapter 4 – Revolution for Jesus
1. All four Vancouver Sun stories are by Lisa Hobbs, published under the following headlines: “Teen Menace Feared: Amid Religious Sect Rivalry,” January 7, 1972; “B.C. Pays Jesus Army Grant: Courses Never Got Started,” January 8, 1972; “Radical U.S. Children of God Sect Think It’s Just Great: B.C. Gov’t Fund for Jesus People’s Army,” January 10, 1972; “Scripture Cards Back Breaking With Family: Children of God Provided with Instant Answers,” January 11, 1972.
Another article on the same page, titled “Jesus Freaks Authentic,” is a CanadianPress news agency report from Ontario. It states: “The moderator of the United Church of Canada says churches should open their doors to the ‘Jesus revolution’ now popular with many North American young people.Rev. A.B. Moore...advised against criticizing ‘Jesus freaks’. ‘You ought to realize that here is a fresh, articulate, authentic approach to Jesus Christ of the 20th century,’ said the moderator.”
On January 14, 1972, the Sun published a brief article without a byline, titled “Sect Denies Forcible Detention: Children of God Members Speak,” which quotes three Vancouver leaders who rejected criticisms and allegations. One of them stated: “We are conservative Christians. We believe in the literacy of the Bible.” See: perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/1972-newspaper-reports-about-children.html
2.
“The Alternative Jesus: Psychedelic Christ”, Time,
June 21, 1971, content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,905202,00.html
3. David Berg, “Jesus People? Or Revolution!”, June 1971, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0148.shtml. David Berg’s writings, which are transcripts of audio recordings made of his sermons and personal conversations, contain unusual grammar and style. Almost every sentence ends with an exclamation mark, and those that don’t often end with a question mark. Also, words in the first sentence, or part of it, in every paragraph are capitalized. In all the quotations I provide, I’ve changed these all-caps sentences, but I’ve kept all the other odd grammar and text styles
4. “Whose Children?” Time, January 24, 1973, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Time_Magazine:_Whose_Children%3F
5.
NBC Evening News,
March 5, 1972, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/NBC_Evening_News:_Children_of_God
6. With increasing controversies caused by teens joining the Children of God, the group started requiring written permission from parents of minors. Lorinda Stewart, whom I lived with in communes in Burlington, Washington, and Tokyo, Japan, wrote about her parents providing written permission for her to join at the same age I was. “When I was sixteen years old, my parents, thrilled to put me in the care of what they thought were good Christians, signed legal documents that handed me over to my ‘colony shepherd’[commune leader].” Lorinda Stewart, One Day Closer: A Mother’s Quest to Bring Her Kidnapped Daughter Home (Simon & Schuster, 2017), 57.
Chapter 5 – Indoctrination
1. David Berg, “The Revolutionary Rules,” March 1972, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0000S.shtml
2. Ibid, paragraph 9.
3. See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Mo_Letters
4. David Berg, “Diamonds of Dust,” October 1970, paragraphs 6, 11, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0003.shtml
5.
Shibley Culpin, “Sect Members Tell Their Side: Under Some
Criticism,” Alberni
Valley Times, May 24, 1972, perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/1972-newspaper-reports-about-children.html
6. My reference to “a doctor or lawyer” in the Mother’s Day card is directly related to lyrics in the 1960s folk song “Little Boxes,” a satirical song about middle-class conformity, with specific references to university, doctors and lawyers. We often sang it at school in music class, and I absorbed its nonconformist attitude along with other countercultural influences of the time.
7. Two Mo Letters written less than a year before I joined the Children of God contradict Japheth and Hannah’s claim that the group was not deliberately encouraging young people to leave their families. David Berg believed that the legendary character, the Pied Piper, was a real person and one of his spirit helpers. He considered himself a modern-day Pied Piper, calling youth to leave their parents and follow him. See: David Berg, “The Pied Piper Prophecy,” September 7, 1971, paragraphs 7–11, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0102.shtml; and David Berg, “Question and Answers,” September 15, 1971, paragraph 10, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0111.shtml
8. David Berg, “Advice on 10:36ers,” August 1971, paragraph 4, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0091.shtml
9. Bertrand Russell, “Why I Am Not a Christian,” Watts & Co., for the Rationalist Press Association Ltd., 1927, users.drew.edu/~jlenz/whynot.html
Chapter 6 – The Endtime Prophet
1. “The Revolutionary Rules,” paragraph 9, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0000S.shtml
2. David Berg, “David,” June 1971, paragraphs 2 and 4, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0077.shtml
3. Matthew 3:3 and 11:10, Mark 1:1–3, and John 1:23 claim that John the Baptist’s ministry was foretold in Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1, though he is not mentioned by name in those scriptures.
4. David Berg, “Survival,” June 1972, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0172.shtml; “Our Shepherd, Moses David” (compilation), January 1976, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0351.shtml; “David Verses and Letters” (compilation), January 2005, www.xfamily.org/index.php/David_Verses_and_Letters
5. David Berg, “Survival,” June 1972, paragraph 94, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0172.shtml
6. David Berg’s first child, Deborah Davis, exposed the deliberate deception regarding her grandmother’s paralysis in Chapter 2 of her book The Children of God: The Inside Story (Zondervan, 1984), which is available to read for free at: www.exfamily.org/art/exmem/debdavis/debdavis00.shtml The facts about Virginia exposed by Deborah are briefly summarized in the section titled “Virginia Brandt and Hjalmer Berg” in “History of The Family International/Children of God,” www.exfamily.org/hist/
7. David Berg, “The Key of David,” June 1971, paragraph 40, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0078.shtml
8. David Berg, “Our Shepherd,” paragraphs 39–42, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0351.shtml
9. “Fred Jordan,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Fred_Jordan
10. David Berg, "Our Shepherd," paragraphs 44 and 45.
11. Matthew 24:21, 29-30.
12. Virginia Berg, “Warning,” 1965, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0655.htm
13. David Berg, “Our Shepherd,” paragraph 49.
14. David Berg,“The 70-Years Prophecy of the End,” March 1972, paragraphs 2 and 3, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0156.shtml
15. Ibid., paragraph 9.
16. Ibid., paragraph 24.
17. David Berg, “The Laws of Moses,” February 1972, paragraphs 30–32 and 49, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0155.shtml
18. John 20:24–29
Chapter 7 – Fleeing Babylon the Whore
1. David Berg, “Bye, Bye, Pie,” May 1973, paragraphs 22–27, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0232.shtml. Berg interprets the references in Revelation 17 and 18 to Babylon as a metaphor describing the global capitalist system led by America.
2. David Berg, “America the Whore,” March 1973, paragraphs 26–27, www.xfamily.org/index.php/America_The_Whore!
3. David Berg, “Diamonds of Dust,” 1970, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0003.shtml
4. David Berg, “Mountain Men,” 1969, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/mlB.html
5. David Berg, “Wonder Working Words,” February 1973, paragraphs 23–32, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0207.shtml
6. David Berg, “Shiners?—or Shamers!,” June 1973, paragraphs 2–11, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0241.shtml
7. David Berg, “Are We Catholics or Protestants?” September 1972, paragraphs 54–56, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0184.shtml
8. David Berg, “The Great Escape,” April 24, 1972, paragraphs 17 and 18, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0160.shtml
9. David Berg, “Statistics,” November 1971, paragraph 8, www.xfamily.org/index.php/HomeARC_ML_0141
10. “Children of God,” NBC Evening News, March 5, 1972, www.xfamily.org/index.php/NBC_Evening_News:_Children_of_God
11. Berg, “Statistics.”
12. David Berg, “Persecution,” November 1971, paragraphs 12–18, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0125.shtml
13. “Caleb Dietrich,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Caleb_Dietrich
14. “Comet Kohoutek,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Kohoutek
15. David Berg, “The Christmas Monster,” September 8, 1973, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml269.html; “More on Kohoutek—The Coming Comet of the Century!” November 4, 1973, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0278.shtml
16. David Berg, “40 Days!” November 12, 1973, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0280.shtml
17. David Berg, “The Comet Comes,” December 20, 1973, paragraphs 3 and 33, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0283.shtml
18. David Berg, “The Comet’s Tale,” January 24, 1974, paragraph 34, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0295.shtml
19. “The Message of Jeremiah” song lyrics can be found at www.nubeat.org/audio/1ad/dm-btb/LYR15.html
Chapter 8 – Revolutionary Sex
1. Brother Sun with Deborah, whom he met on the final leg of our road trip and later married: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/32857987363/in/album-72157680396692341/
2. “Little Sisters of Jesus,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Sisters_of_Jesus
3. “Papal Audience—Faith’s Audience with Pope Paul and His Speech That Day!” October 1972, paragraphs 1–3, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0192.shtml, Faith Berg, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Faith_Berg
4. David Berg, “Revolutionary Sex,” March 27, 1973, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0258.shtml
5. David Berg, “Scriptural, Revolutionary Love-Making,” August 1969, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0000N.shtml
6. David Berg, “Revolutionary Love-Making,” Summer 1970, paragraphs 53, 111, 114–116, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0259.shtml
7. Berg, “Revolutionary Sex,” paragraphs 15 and 16. However, by 1980, Berg had changed his mind and no longer criticized promiscuity—he encouraged it: “As far as God’s concerned, there are no more sexual prohibitions hardly of any kind, except he sure seemed to hate sodomy and I don’t see where He withdrew that....there’s nothing in the world at all wrong with sex as long as it’s practised in love, whatever it is, whoever it’s with, no matter who or what age or what relative or what manner!...There are no relationship restrictions or age limitations in His law of love.” David Berg, “The Devil Hates Sex,” May 1980, paragraphs 35, 67–69, 110, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml999_main.shtml
8. Berg, “Revolutionary Sex,” paragraph 59.
9. Ibid., paragraph 54.
10. Ibid., paragraph 67.
11. David Berg, “Beauty and the Beasts,” April 1974, paragraphs 20–25, 36 and 37, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0309.shtml
12. David Berg, “The Old Church and the New Church—A Prophecy of God,” August 1969, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/mlA.html
13. Karen Zerby has used many pseudonyms over the years, including Maria David, Maria Berg, Maria Fontaine, Mama Maria and Queen Maria. She legally changed her name to Katherine Rianna Smith in 1997. See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Karen_Zerby
14. “Jane Miller Berg,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jane_Miller_Berg
15. See Chapter 6, note 6. Deborah discusses the events surrounding her father’s affair with Karen Zerby and the prophecy he used to justify it in chapters 4 and 5 of her book.
16. Berg, “Old Church,” paragraph 20.
17. Ibid., paragraphs 11, 13 and 25.
18. David Berg, “One Wife,” October 28, 1972, paragraphs 9, 20, 22, 23 and 27, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0249.shtml
19. David Berg, “Survival,” June 1972, paragraphs 157–62, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0172.shtml
20. John 15:13, I John 3:16, Acts 2:44, Acts 4:32.
21. David Berg, “The Law of Love,” March 21, 1974, paragraphs 3, 18, 24 and 26, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0302C.shtml
22. David Berg, “God’s Only Law Is Love—What the Bible Says about True Free Love!” July 29, 1977, paragraphs 25 and 30, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0592.shtml
23. London Poorboy Club photographs: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/albums/72157679414192391
24. “Jeremy Spencer,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jeremy_Spencer
25. David Berg, “The Little Flirty Fishy,” January 3, 1974, paragraphs 17, 19, 99 and 100, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=293. An illustrated version of that letter was published in the True Komix series of comics intended for children and teens: “Little Flirty Fishy,” www.xfamily.org/index.php/True_Komix_-_Little_Flirty_Fishy
26. David Berg, “Beauty and the Beasts , paragraphs 8 and 9.
27. Ibid. paragraph 5.
28. Matthew 22:35–40.
29. Berg, “Beauty and the Beasts,” paragraph 40. And in a later letter Berg declares: “That’s the whole basic doctrine of FFing, that sex proves love! Sex proves the existence of Love, that these girls are willing to go to bed with these men to prove they love them.” Berg, “Devil,” paragraph 126.
30. Berg used the phrase “hookers for Jesus” in more than one of his letters on Flirty Fishing. However, those and many others on the subject are not available on the two websites where most Mo Letters are archived. The phrase was used in media reports on their sexual escapades in Tenerife. See: Time, “Tracking the Children of God,” August 22, 1977, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Time_Magazine:_Tracking_the_Children_of_God
31. Former member Miriam Williams wrote about her experiences as a “sacred prostitute” in Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult (Eagle Brook, 1999).
32.
See David Berg, “The Wrath of God—On Tenerife and Its System’s Ugly
Face of Tyranny!” March 5, 1977, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0577.shtml.
I’ve written in more detail about Berg and Zerby in Tenerife and
their clash with Catholic authorities there in the blog article
“Secret Letter
Claims Family International Leader Caused Deadliest Air Crash in History,”
November 2, 2011, http://chainthedogma.blogspot.com/2011/11/secret-letter-claims-family.html
Chapter 9 – I Felt the Earth Move
1. Many years later, when I returned to Japan in the mid-1980s, the leader of a commune I briefly stayed in knew me because of that hotel incident. Ben remembered reading about it when he was at the head office in England, where regional leaders around the world sent their reports. He told me those who read or heard about Brother Sun’s Flirty Fishing tale didn’t understand why leaders reprimanded him for it, but some were enticed to go to Japan because of that and similar stories.
2. Thomas Moore, “Where Have All the Children of God Gone?” New Times, October 4, 1974, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/New_Times:_Where_have_all_the_Children_of_God_gone%3F
3. David Berg, “Shiners?—or Shamers!” June 1973, paragraphs 21 and 30, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0241.shtml
4. The following photo of the members of an early Children of God home in Japan in 1973 includes these four leaders. Shiloh is in the foreground, Laadah is in the centre, Medad is behind her in the back row, andAbby is next to him on the right: www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/33630354116/in/album-72157680396692341/
5. “Vietnam: A Thrilling Account of the First Team in the Far East,” 1972, media.xfamily.org/docs/fam/bor/bor-v2-pg183-185.pdf
6. “Texas Soul Clinic,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Texas_Soul_Clinic
7. David Berg, “Faith and Healing,” August 1970, paragraphs 15–18, 43–52, and 58, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0000M.shtml
8.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, “A Look Back at Billy
Graham’s Largest
Ever Crusade,” https://billygraham.org/story/seoul-south-korea-a-look-back-at-billy-grahams-largest-ever-crusade/
The URL for this page has constantly changed, so here is the link to where it is archived on the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20230328013829/https://billygraham.org/story/seoul-south-korea-a-look-back-at-billy-grahams-largest-ever-crusade/
9. Campus Crusade for Christ International, “About—History of CRU—1974: More Than 300,000 Delegates Attend EXPLO ’74 in Seoul, South Korea,” scroll down to the year 1974 on this page: www.cru.org/us/en/about.html
10. “Explo ’72,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explo_%2772
11. Kang Hyun-kyung, “‘Ridiculous’ 1970s: Book Lampoons Park Chung-hee Era,” Korean Times, February 22, 2019, www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2019/02/142_264236.html
12. David Berg, “Israel Invaded”, November 25‚ 1973, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=281
Chapter 10 – Welcome to the Jungle, or The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave
1.
The following photograph is of Zichri and Shalisha on their way to
set up
the first
Children of God
commune in the Philippines. Zichri is second from
the left and Shalisha is next to him. The man on Zichri’s left is
Caleb, David
Berg’s second disciple and the leader of the Burlington commune when
I lived there: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/32820607454/in/album-72157680137412630/
2.
The following
photograph shows Daniel and Ruth in the first
Children of
God commune in the Philippines. Daniel is on the left in the back
row and Ruth is in front of him. Zichri and Shalisha are also in the back
row: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/32850376133/in/album-72157680137412630/
3. David Berg, “The Love of Christ,” July 1984, paragraph 10, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1806.shtml
Chapter 11 – The Prodigal Child Returns
1. It was hard to accept that my dad steered his truck directly at me. I wanted to doubt he did it deliberately, but that is how I experienced it. Over twenty years later, I learned he did the same thing to someone else he had a dispute with, directly driving his car at them in a fit of rage. His girlfriend called me for legal advice about it because I was in law school at the time. She told me that my dad did not want her to tell me about the incident, but she called me anyway because she wanted to understand the restraining order filed against him.
2. David Berg, “The Re-organisation Nationalisation Revolution,” January 1978, paragraph 20, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0650.shtml
3. David Berg, “Dear Friend or Foe,” January 1979, paragraphs 7 and 8, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0754.shtml
4. Berg, “Re-organisation,” paragraph 28. Also see: Ed Priebe, “The Children of God’s Name Change to ‘The Family,’” 1993, https://web.archive.org/web/20080214132018/http://www.excult.org/namechg4.htm
5. David Berg, “To the Media—From a Guru—About the Sects,” May 1979, paragraphs 2, 8, 11 and 19, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0800.shtml
6. “World Services,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/World_Services
7. David Berg, “Have Faith, Will Camp! Part One,” July 1979, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0807_01.shtml
8. David Berg, “Have Trailer—Will Travel!—Part 1: Fires!” July 1979, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0812_01.shtml
9. John 15:20: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;” 2 Timothy 3:12: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;” Matthew 10:23: “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.”
10. David Berg, “No Lit? No Letters!” August 1979, paragraph 16, http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0814.shtml
Chapter 12 – On the Road Again
1.
Berg, “Revolutionary Rules,” paragraph 12, https://pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=S
2. David Berg, “The Education Revolution,” November 1975, paragraphs 71 and 72, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0371.shtml. Also see the Introduction to the Childcare Handbook, vol. 2: https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Education#Introduction
3. David Berg, “The End Is Here!”, May 1980, paragraphs 13, 15, 25 and 28, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0906.shtml
4. David Berg, “Keep Your Caravans at Home!”, July 1980, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0921.shtml
5. “Ted Patrick,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Ted_Patrick.
6.
Jeff Goldberg,
“From the Archives: Mind Control U.S.A. (1979),” High
Times, April 9, 2022, https://hightimes.com/culture/from-the-archives-mind-control-u-s-a-1979/
7. Thomas Moore, “Where Have All,” https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/New_Times:_Where_have_all_the_Children_of_God_gone%3F
8. “FreeCOG,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/FREECOG. Parents who did not see the Children of God as a harmful group set up a counter-organization called Thankful Parents and Friends of the Children of God (ThankCOG). They challenged FreeCOG claims and negative publicity with a newsletter supporting the group. My mother received some of their material.
9.
Ted Patrick and Tom Dulack, Let Our
Children Go! (Ballantine Books,
1979). The first
chapter of the
book can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080929120346/http://ocmb.lermanet.us/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=432
10. David Berg, “Jimmy Carter—America’s Last Chance?” June 1976, paragraph 23, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0520.shtml
11. David Berg, “The Reagan Reaction!” November 5, 1980, paragraphs 40 and 73, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0946.shtml
12. David Berg, “Operation P.A.C.C.” May 1972, paragraph 5, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0164.shtml
13. David Berg, “Refuges,” April 1981, paragraphs 28, 51 and 52, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1003.shtml
14. David Berg, “Go East! And Grow Up with the Golden Triangle!” January 1982, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1088.shtml
15. David Berg, “War in 1983?” November 1982, paragraphs 1 and 2, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1341.shtml
16. Ian Mulgrew and Mark Budgen, “B.C. Officials Seize 13 Children after Claim that One Molested,” Globe & Mail, February 24, 1983, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Globe_and_Mail:_B.C._officials_seize_13_children_after_claim_that_one_molested
17.
UPI, “Ministry Will Seek Custody of Cult Children,” March 23, 1983, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/UPI:_Ministry_will_seek_custody_of_cult_children
18. The following article from that period involves a Family couple who fled England to Vancouver with their two children after a judge awarded custody of the kids to the wife’s parents. It is an example of the kinds of custody disputes many Family members were facing. “Transatlantic Custody Battle Continues,” Globe & Mail, January 11, 1982, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Globe_and_Mail:_Transatlantic_custody_battle_continues
19. David Berg, “Guard Your Children!” December 1983, paragraphs 23, 27 and 61, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Guard_Your_Children!
20. David Berg, “Revolutionary Sex,” paragraph 25, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0258.shtml
Chapter 13 – Pearls of the Orient
1. David Berg, “Views on the News! World Currents No. 72!” March 1994, paragraphs 30 and 31, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2916.shtml
2. “Louris Nielson,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Louris_May_Yamaguchi
3. Keda, “What a Liberation!” June 1978, www.xfamily.org/index.php/What_a_Liberation!_by_Keda
4. David Berg, “Revolutionary Sex,” paragraph 24, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0258.shtml. Berg ignores Romans 1:26-27, which does equate lesbianism to male homosexuality.
5. David Berg, “Women in Love,” December 1973, paragraphs 2 and 5, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0292.shtml
6. David Berg, “The Girl Who Wouldn’t,” June 1978, paragraphs 4, 5, 7, 25 and 31, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml721.html
7. David Berg, “Law of Love,” paragraph 14, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0302C.shtml
8. David Berg, “Jealousy,” September 1973, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=287. See also: David Berg, “FFing and Jealousy!” July 1977, paragraphs 1, 2 and 40, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0603.shtml
9. “Louris Nielson,” XFamily.
10. “Jonathan Berg,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jonathan_Berg
11. A memoir by Ruthie’s daughter includes descriptions of her life growing up in that commune. See: Faith Jones, Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult (William Morrow, 2021).
12. “World Services,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/World_Services
13. See: Proverbs 19:18; 23:13-14. David Berg’s views on corporal punishment can be found in “Lashes of Love,” August 1975, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Lashes_of_Love!; and in “Dad’s Guidelines for Teen Discipline,” compiled and edited by Karen Zerby from the Mo Letters, October 1985, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=2066
14. David Berg, “Guard Your Children,” paragraph 76, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Guard_Your_Children!
15. David Berg, “Obedience in Little Things,” 1984, paragraph 13, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=1781
16.
For a first-person
account of Flirty Fishing,
see: Miriam Williams, Heaven’s
Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult (Eagle
Brook, 1999), https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Miriam_Williams_Boeri
17. David Berg, “Make It Pay,” March 1978, paragraphs 9 and 10, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=684
18.
“Bought with a Price! A How-To Manual for Escort FF’ers!”
Heavenly Helpers,
vol. 4, June 1983, 377–92, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Heavenly_Helpers
19. “Escort Servicing,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Escort_Servicing. Family women describe their escort experiences. Maria Rousse, the author of one those testimonies, was one of the women in the Kowloon home I overheard talking about escorting.
20. John D.: “It turned out in Hong Kong, from what I can speak of from my own personal experience, that The Family had a friend in an escort agency who made it possible for the Family girls to meet people at hotels on an invitation basis. There was a situation with my wife where she accompanied business people for a whole weekend for several thousand dollars.” Transcript of the 1998 documentary The Love Prophet and the Children of God (DLI Productions, in association with TVOntario, CFCF 12 and the Knowledge Network), www.xfamily.org/index.php/The_Love_Prophet_and_the_Children_of_God
21. James D. Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (Syracuse University Press, 2000), 127.
22. “Flirty Fishing—Discontinuation,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Flirty_Fishing#Discontinuation
Chapter 14 – I Shook Hands with the Butcher of Beijing
1. David Berg, “Combos—The 7-Purpose National Centers!” February 1982, paragraphs 1, 2 and 21, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=1115
2. “Open Heart Report,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Open_Heart_Report
3. Jude 1:14–16
4. David Berg, “The Advantages of Having Children”, May 1978, paragraphs 34, 38 and 51, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=688
5. “Chris” was the alias of Thomas Hack, a long-time high-ranking leader of the Family, and the person Berg paired Keda/Magadalene with after he condemned her lesbianism. See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Thomas_Hack
6. I did purposely destroy my passport once. A leader told me to pour coffee on it while I was on a trip to Korea and apply for a new one at the embassy in Seoul. A clean passport without all the visitor visa stamps showing my previous stays in Japan made it easier to get back into the country.
7.
Here is a photograph of me (wearing sunglasses) outside the Beijing Friendship
Store with a member visiting from
Harbin: www.flickr.com/photos/146761602@N04/33327540110/in/album-72157680396692341/
8. David Berg “Happy Endings,” June 1979, paragraphs 5, 9 and 12, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=802
9. David Berg, “Are You a Sight-seer, or a Seer-sighter?” November 1970, paragraph 12, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0007.shtml
10.
Jonathan Watts, “‘Butcher of Beijing’ Tries to Clear His Name,” Guardian,
August 19, 2004, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/19/china.jonathanwatts
11. “English Corner: China’s Free Speech Zone,” The Face of China, https://web.archive.org/web/20210115140956/http://thefaceofchina.com:80/2014/01/09/english-corner-china%E2%80%99s-free-speech-zone/
12. Ruth Cherrington, Deng’s Generation: Young Intellectuals in 1980s China (Palgrave Macmillan, 1997), chapter 1, endnote 5.
Chapter 15 – Mr Big. in Japan
1.
“Regional offices:
PACRO,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Leaders#Regional_offices
2. David Berg, “The Law of Love,” paragraphs 14 and 16, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0302C.shtml
3. “Heavenly City School,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Heavenly_City_School
4. “Naritas,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Naritas
5. Video of the Japan Teen Training Camp held from August 27, 1986, to October 14, 1986, can be found at: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Japan_Teen_Training_Camp
6. “Teen Training Camp,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Teen_Training_Camp. A Basic Training Handbook based on these camps was required reading for all members aged ten and over. See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Basic_Training_Handbook
7. David Berg, “Mo’s Pointers for Health,” April 1975, paragraphs 317, 318 and 333, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0353.shtml
8. David Berg, “Pyramid Power,” January 1975, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=630
9. “Steven Douglas Kelly,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Steven_Douglas_Kelly
10. David Berg, “Obedience in Little Things,” pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=1781
11. David Berg, “Jesus’ Babies: A Child of Love for Jesus’ Sake!” June 1976, paragraphs 1, 82 and 83, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0739.shtml
12. “Christina Teresa Zerby,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Christina_Teresa_Zerby. See also: “Sara Kelley,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Sara_Kelley
13. David Berg, “Ban the Bomb–Inter-Home Sex!” March 1983, paragraphs 16 and 17, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=1434
14.
“Arthur Lindfield,”
XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Arthur_Lindfield
15. “King Arthur’s Nights,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/King_Arthur%27s_Nights!
16. “Jeremy Spencer,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jeremy_Spencer
17.
The Family’s music albums: https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Music_Artists#Bands.2C_groups.2C_and_albums
18. “Music with Meaning,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Music_With_Meaning
19.
“Family Videos,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Family_Videos#Publicly_Distributed
20. Margaret Thaler Singer, Cults in Our Midst, revised edition (Jossey-Bass, 2003), 114.
21. Joshua 10:12-13.
22. Isaiah 38:8.
23. “Grant Cameron Montgomery,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Grant_Cameron_Montgomery
Chapter 16 – The Exorcism of Merry
1. “Michael Hawron,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Michael_Hawron
2. Perry Bulwer, “Former Cult Leader, Michael Hawron, Hiding in Plain Sight in New Boston, Texas,” Religion and Child Abuse News, August 12, 2019, religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/p/former-cult-leader-michael-hawron.html
3. David Berg, “You Must Obey the Least of These Commandments!—A Personal Talk on Our Family Rules at Dad’s Home!” 1983, paragraphs 33, 34 and 37, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1827.shtml
4. David Berg, “Whose Slave Are You?—God’s or Mammon’s,” September 1962, paragraphs 57 and 58, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=1332
5. American Bible Society, “Slaves and Servants in the Time of Jesus,” https://bibleresources.americanbible.org/resource/slaves-and-servants-in-the-time-of-jesus-history-and-culture “The word in the New Testament usually translated as ‘servant’ actually means ‘slave,’ and referred to someone who was owned or controlled by someone else, not just a servant hired to do a certain job. Some slaves performed menial household tasks.”
6. “Peter Bevan Riddell,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Peter_Bevan_Riddell
7. “Steven Riddell Abduction Case,” Xfamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Steven_Riddell_Abduction_Case. For other abduction cases involving children in the Family see: Child Abduction https://xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Child_Abduction
8. A whistle-blowing defector using the alias James Penn, who worked in World Services for twenty years, wrote articles exposing various abuses and crimes committed by Berg, Zerby, Kelly and other top leaders. He described how Berg had to suddenly flee Canada one step ahead of the police. In 1989, Maggie, the top leader who instructed members to forge university degrees, was arrested in Montreal and convicted of forging passports for members of Berg and Zerby’s staff. That investigation led police to Berg’s door near Vancouver, British Columbia. Penn revealed that Berg and Zerby had been using fake Australian passports for years, and wrote: “Can you imagine how much it cost Mo, Maria, Peter and their staff to flee on a moment’s notice to Europe, and then travel from country to country there for several months before settling down?...The head of WS Finances told me that they had left behind about 500 one-ounce gold coins, worth about US$200,000.” James Penn, “All of These Things Moved Me,” February 2001, www.xfamily.org/index.php/All_of_These_Things_Moved_Me. Elsewhere, Penn revealed that WS units kept $20,000 USD or more in gold coins as emergency reserves, and that at one point he held “nearly $40,000 in cash and gold coins in my own safety deposit box for WS.” James Penn, “A Few Replies,” August 2004, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Penn_-_A_Few_Replies
9. “Michael Gambrill,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Michael_Gambrill. See also: “Kathy Farrell,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Kathy_Farrell
10. “Merry Jolene Berg,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Merry_Jolene_Berg
11. “Paul Brandt Berg,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Paul_Brandt_Berg
12.
Judy Helmstetler (aka Shulamite), Merry Berg’s mother: https://web.archive.org/web/20090401200405/https://www.newdaynews.com/openhouse/index.cgi/read/21793
13. “Jane Miller Berg,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jane_Miller_Berg
14. David Berg, “The Last State—The Dangers of Demonism,” March 1987, paragraph 55, www.xfamily.org/index.php/The_Last_State
15. “Alfred Strickland Kelley,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Alfred_Strickland_Kelley
16. Berg, “The Last State,” paragraph 114.
17. Ibid., paragraph 1.
18. Ibid., paragraphs 46, 47, 54 and 55.
19. David Berg, “A Father Applies the Rod!—Dad’s Phone Call withHo,” December 1980, paragraphs 17, 18 and 20, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=952-8
20. “Open Heart Report,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Open_Heart_Report
21. Berg, “The Last State,” paragraphs 244–46, 249.
22. “Macau Victor Camps,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Macau_Victor_Camps. See also: “Victor Program,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Victor_Program
23. See the sections “Alleged Child Abuse” and “Writings” in “Michael Hawron,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Michael_Hawron
24. “Contend for Our Teens! The Story of Teen James!” July 1988, page 4, archive.xfamily.org/docs/fam/fsm/teen-james-fsm104.pdf
25. “Family Mythology,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Family_Mythology#Legendary_Spirit_Helpers
26. Faith Jones, Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult (William Morrow, 2021), 41.
Chapter 17 – Heavenly Lunacy
1. “Junior End Time Teen,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Junior_End_Time_Teen
2 “Techi” refers to Christina Teresa Zerby, Karen Zerby’s daughter. As a young teen, she was the subject of the Techi Series, which led to mandatory Open Heart Reports for Family children. See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/Christina_Teresa_Zerby
3. Josiah’s real name is Paul Péloquin www.xfamily.org/index.php/Paul_Peloquin. Mary Mom is Linda Perfilio www.xfamily.org/index.php/Linda_Perfilio. Elaine (Morningstar) is an Australian who is the subject of the Mo Letter “Frustrated? Your Children ARE God’s Full-time Service” (September 1979, www.xfamily.org/index.php/HomeARC_ML_0835_01). Faithy is Faith Berg www.xfamily.org/index.php/Faith_Berg. John PI is Samuel Charles Perfilio www.xfamily.org/index.php/Samuel_Charles_Perfilio. Ginny is one of the leaders in Maggie’s offce home, which I lived in with Rachelle, and is the mother of Amber, one of the teen girls I saw being abused in the Teen Detention Home in Macau around the time Zerby wrote this letter (“JETT/Teen Discipleship Revolution Needed Now!” Maria no.136, October 1990, www.xfamily.org/index.php/HomeARC_ML_2658)
4. David Berg, “Strange Truths!” July 1975, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0360.shtml
5. David Berg, “Dear Rahel,” June 6, 1971, paragraph 35, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=76
6. David Berg, “Space City,” June 1971, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=75A
7. Revelation 21:2, 10.
8. David Berg, “The Moon—And the Hidden City,” November 1985, paragraph 7, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=2110
9. Ibid., paragraph 42.
10. “Space City,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Space_City
11. “Gallery of Posters,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Gallery_of_Posters
12. Berg, “Moon,” paragraph 33.
13. David Berg, “More on the Moon,” November 1985, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=2111. See also: David Berg, “The City of the Future,” November 1985, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=2112
14. Years later, a former member wrote a rebuttal, explaining the errors in Berg’s calculations and the science disproving the prophet’s impossible claims: www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/ml2110-ml2111.html
15. Berg, “City of the Future,” paragraphs 6, 7 and 10.
16. David Berg, “Science Falsely So-Called,” February 1992, paragraph 24, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2847.shtml
17. David Berg, “The Big Lie—Exposed!” April 1977, paragraphs 66–8, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0736.shtml
18. David Berg,“The 70-Years Prophecy,” paragraph 24, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0156.shtml
19.
In the early 1970s, Berg said he received prophecies indicating that Muammar
Gaddafi,
who had recently taken control of
Libya, was either the Antichrist
or preparing the way for
him. In 2011, as Gaddafi’s
dictatorship was
collapsing, I wrote the following blog article several months before
his death:
“Gaddafi,
the Family International and the Antichrist,” February 2011, http://chainthedogma.blogspot.com/2011/02/gaddafi-family-international-and.html
20. David Berg, “World Currents—No. 49,” April 1990, paragraph 23, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2616.shtml
21. David Berg, “World Currents—No. 53,” November 1990, paragraphs 1–3, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2667RV.shtml
22. David Berg, “World Currents—No. 55—More on the Gulf War!” February 1991, paragraph 15, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2674RV.shtml
23. David Berg, “Warning—Be Prepared!” June 1991, paragraph 7, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2696.shtml
24. David Berg, “It Could Happen This Year of 1992—Part 1,” December 1991, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2738.shtml
25. David Berg, “It Could Happen This Year of 1992—Part 2,” December 1991, paragraph 45, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml2739.shtml
26. Ibid., paragraph 106.
Chapter 19 – Losing My Religion
1. David Berg, “Backsliders Beware,” June 1981, paragraphs 71 and 135, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml1045.shtml
2. Vine Deloria Jr., Review of God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, second ed. (Golden, Colorado: North American Press, 1992), www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/489553
3. David Berg, “The Big Lie,” paragraphs 7, 66 and 68, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b5/ml0736.shtml
4. Ibid., paragraphs 1, 2, 5 and 7.
5. Ibid., paragraph 57.
6. Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, sixth ed. (London: John Murray, 1872).
7. John 8:31-32.
8. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (New York: Houghton Mifin, 2006), 50–1.
9. “Sagan standard,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_standard
10. Victor Stenger, “Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence,” Hufington Post, August 14, 2010, www.huffpost.com/entry/the-evidence-against-god_b_682169
11. Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design (New York: Bantom Books, 2010), 180.
12. Nick Watt, “Stephen Hawking: ‘Science Makes God Unnecessary,’” ABC News, September 6, 2010, https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/stephen-hawking-science-makes-god-unnecessary/story?id=11571150
13. Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions (John Murray Press, 2018).
14. “Stephen Hawking Claims ‘No Possibility’ of God in Last Book,” NBC News, October 18, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/stephenhawking-claims-no-possibility-god-last-book-ncna921806
Chapter 20 – Law and Disorder
1. “Malaspina University-College Awards 134 Baccalaureate Degrees,” Vancouver Island University, June 11, 1996, https://news.viu.ca/malaspina-university-college-awards-134-baccaulaureate-degrees
2. Perry Bulwer, “Safe Injection Facilities: Compelling Government toAct,” December 2001, perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/safe-injection-sites-bc.html
3. Perry Bulwer, “International Law and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health Care: Using Safe Injection Facilities to Control and Prevent Epidemics,” April 2002, perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/safe-injection-sites-international.html
4. Vancouver Coastal Health, “Supervised Consumption Service at Insite,” www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=964
5. Report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, “The Challenge of Change: A Study of Canada’s Criminal Prostitution Laws,” December 2006, https://web.archive.org/web/20230203111816/https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/39-1/JUST/report-6/
6. Perry Bulwer, “Parliamentary Presentation on Prostitution,” perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/parliamentary-presentation-on.html
7. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry: missingwomen.library.uvic.ca
8. Perry Bulwer, “Racket on the Rails,” July 2006, perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/racket-on-rails_9.html
Chapter 21 – Tragedy of the Chosen One
1. ExFamily, a “source of truthful information about The Family” (www.exfamily.org/index.htm); Xfamily, “a collaboratively edited encyclopedia about The Family International/Children of God cult” (www.xfamily.org/index.php/Main_Page); and Moving On, a website for second-generation survivors that no longer exists, but that has been partly archived at www.xfamily.org/index.php/MovingOn
2. Perry Bulwer, “Respecting a Child’s Point of View,” December 14, 2011, chainthedogma.blogspot.com/2011/12/respecting-childs-point-of-view.html
3. “The Judgment of Lord Justice Ward,” www.exfamily.org/art/misc/justward_ver1.html See also: “Complete Judgement of Lord Justice Ward,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Complete_Judgment_of_Lord_Justice_Ward
4. David Berg, “Deceivers Yet True,” 1979, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b2/1248.shtml. A condensed, illustrated version of “Deceivers Yet True” taught children and teens that it is necessary to deceive and lie to outsiders inorder to protect the Lord’s work: www.exfamily.org/pubs/tk/deceivers_yet_true.html
5. “Complete Judgment,” part 4.8: “The Family’s Attitude to Lies and Deception.”
6. Former member Ed Priebe compiled a detailed analysis of the Family’s deceitful policies and practices in the article “Official Policy on Lying & Deception”: www.exfamily.org/the-family/policy-on-lying-and-deception.shtml
7. “Complete Judgment,” part 6: “Medical Neglect.”
8. “Complete Judgment,” part 5.19: “Sexually Inappropriate Behaviour—Incest—The Oral Evidence.”
9. “Kathy Farrell,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Kathy_Farrell
10. “Complete Judgment,” part 6: “Medical Neglect.”
11. “Complete Judgment,” part 6: “Medical Neglect” and part 8: “Impairment of Emotional, Social or Behavioural Development.”
12. “James Penn,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/James_Penn
13. “Loving Jesus,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Loving_Jesus. See also: James Penn, “No Regrets,” in the section “Law of Love and the Marriage of the Generations”: www.xfamily.org/index.php/No_Regrets#Law_of_Love_and_the_Marriage_of_the_Generations
14. Karen Zerby (Maria), “Living the Lord’s Law of Love,” 1998. The individual letters are numbered 3199 to 3212, and censored versions are available at www.exfamily.org/cgi-bin/pubindex.pl?3201
15. Months after issuing an interim order requiring the mother to meet certain conditions to keep custody of her son, Justice Ward considered herreaction and the Family’s official response before issuing his final decision. He wrote a lengthy addendum to his judgment titled “The End Result,” which is at the end of this PDF version of his decision: media.xfamily.org/docs/legal/uk/ward-judgment/ward-judgment-v2.pdf
16. See: Ed Priebe, “The Alcoholic Prophet,” March 2003, www.exfamily.org/articles/alcoholic-prophet.htm; and Perry Bulwer, “What Do Pat Robertson and the Family International Cult Have in Common?” January 18, 2010, chainthedogma.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-do-pat-robertson-and-family.html. David Berg declared his own anti-Semitism: “Yes, I’m an anti-Semite, because God is! Yes, I’m a racist, because God is!” (See: www.exfamily.org/art/exmem/anti-semitism-hate-the-family-international.htm.) On the subject of pedophilia: “At least seven women, including both his daughters, his daughter-in-law and two of his granddaughters, have publicly alleged that Berg sexually abused them when they were children.” (See: www.xfamily.org/index.php/David_Berg#Alleged_sexual_abuse)
17. Margaret Thaler Singer and Janja Lalich, Cults in Our Midst, revised ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003).
18. “MP Svend Robinson Admits Theft, Takes Stress Leave,” CBC News, April 16, 2004, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mp-svend-robinson-admits-thefttakes-stress-leave-1.518412
19. “Abe Braaten,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Abe_Braaten
20. “Ricky Rodriguez,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Ricky_Rodriguez
21. “Jesus Baby,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jesus_Baby
22. David Berg, “The End-Time Witnesses,” May 1978, paragraphs15 and 16, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=707
23. “Davida Kelley,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Davida_Kelley
24. “Story of Davidito,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Story_of_Davidito
25. “Life with Grandpa—the Mene Story,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Life_with_Grandpa_-_the_Mene_Story
26. “Lawrence Lilliston,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Lawrence_Lilliston
27 . Lawrence Lilliston and Gary Shepherd, “Psychological Assessment of Children in The Family,” https://web.archive.org/web/20210419082907/https://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/family.htm
Carol C. Buening (PhD, LISW, Ohio State University College of Social Work, adjunct faculty) wrote the following response to that study: “Critical Commentary on ‘Psychological Assessment of Children in The Family,’” www.exfamily.org/art/ext/critical_commentary.shtml
28. “Complete Judgment,” part 9.8.1: “The Psychological and Psychiatric Evidence: Dr. Lawrence Lilliston.”
29. “Still Around,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Still_Around
30. “Angela Smith,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Angela_Smith
31. “Family Care Foundation,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Family_Care_Foundation
32. “Ricky Rodriguez Video Transcript,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Ricky_Rodriguez_Video_Transcript
33. Those details are described in the book about Ricky’s life by religion journalist Don Lattin, Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2007).
Chapter 22 – Everything Is Broken
1. “Julia McNeil Biography,” Safe Passage Foundation, safepassagefoundation.org/is/juliamcneil
2.
Michael D. Langone, “The Two ‘Camps’ of Cultic Studies: Time
for a
Dialogue,” Cultic Studies Journal,
2000, 17, 79–100, https://articles2.icsahome.com/articles/the-two-camps-of-cultic-studies-langone
3. Cultic Studies Review was the journal of the International Cultic Studies Association at the time. See: www.icsahome.com/icsa-publications. See also: Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, nr.ucpress.edu/
4. “Academic Disputes and Dialogue,” International Cultic Studies Association, www.icsahome.com/elibrary/topics/academic-disputes-and-dialogue. See also: Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins, eds., Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field (University of Toronto Press, 2001), www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442677302
5. Stephen A. Kent and Kayla Swanson, “The History of Credibility Attacks Against Former Cult Members”, International Journal of Cultic Studies 8, no 2 (2017), https://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/topics/articles/the-history-of-credibility-attacks-against-former-cult-members-docx This article contains an analysis of two important court cases, one being the British child-custody case involving the Family that pitted the testimonies of former members against those of current group members. The researchers “found that most of the apostates’ information was credible, while current members often lied.” See also: Carmen Almendros et al., “Reasons for Leaving: Psychological Abuse and Distress Reported by Former Members of Cultic Groups,” Cultic Studies Review 8, no. 2 (2009), 111–38, https://articles2.icsahome.com/articles/reasons-for-leaving-almendros This study found that negative experiences reported by former cult members were accurate and credible. It concludes that it may constitute a secondary victimization to presume inaccuracy in former members’ reports of their experiences.
6. James D. Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000), xviii.
7. Stephen A. Kent, “Book Reviews,” Nova Religio 8, no. 1 (2004):108–12, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Life-in-The-Family-An-Oral-History-of-the-Children-of-God.pdf
8. Chancellor, Life, xxii.
9. Stephen A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, “When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters,” Skeptic 6, no. 3 (1998), in the section “Biased Studies,” www.xfamily.org/index.php/When_Scholars_Know_Sin
10. Stephen A. Kent, “Generational Revolt by the Adult Children of First-Generation Members of the Children of God/The Family,” Cultic Studies Review 3, no. 1 (2004): 56–72, in section E, “The Cover-Up and Its Impact upon the Teens,” www.xfamily.org/index.php/Generational_Revolt_by_the_Adult_Children_of_First-Generation_Members_of_the_Children_of_God/The_Family
11. Chancellor, Life, 137.
12. “Complete Judgment,” part 6: “Medical Neglect.”
13. “Merry’s Story, XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Merry%27s_Story
14. “Merry Jolene Berg,” XFamily, in the section “Vilification,” www.xfamily.org/index.php/Merry_Jolene_Berg#Vilification
15. David Berg, “Persecution & Backsliders,” July 1992, paragraph 18, pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=2817
16. Karen Zerby, “False Accusers in the Last Days!” July 1992, paragraphs 79–81 and 89, www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b2/2820.shtml
17. For examples of Stephen A. Kent’s publications on the Children of God/the Family, see: skent.ualberta.ca/contributions/children-of-god/
18. Stephen A. Kent, “Brainwashing Programs in The Family/Children of God, and Scientology,” Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field, eds. Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001), 349–78, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Scientology-Brainwashing-in-RPF-and-The-Family.pdf
19. Stephen A. Kent, “Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual Historical Study of the Children of God’s Founder, David Berg,” Cultic Studies Journal 11, no. 2 (1994): 135–88, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/COG-Lustful-Prophet.pdf. See also: Stephen A. Kent, “Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God,” Journal of Religion and Health 33, no. 1 (spring 1994): 29–43; reprinted in Spirituality in East and West no. 1 (1997): 16–22, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Misattribution-in-COG.pdf
20. Maureen Griffo, “Spiritual Abuse Across the Spectrum of ChristianEnvironments,” ICSA Today 9, no. 1 (2018): 2–5, https://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/topics/articles/spectrum-of-spiritual-abuse-doc. “Dr. Joost Meerloo’s The Rape of the Mind (Merloo, 1956) examined how mental coercion exploits empathy and perception to steal a person’s autonomy. In abusive religious environments, what might be called a rape of the soul and also the mind occurs.”
21.
Perry Bulwer, “A Response to James D. Chancellor’s Life in The Family:
An Oral History of the Children of God,” Cultic
Studies Review 6, no.
2 (2007): 101–59,
articles1.icsahome.com/articles/a-response-to-james-d--chancellor-s-life-in-the-family-an-oral-history-of-the-children-of-god.
A copy on
my blog has easier-to-access footnotes instead of endnotes:
perry-bulwer.blogspot.com/p/response-to-james-d-chancellors-life-in.html.
For Chancellor’s response,
see: James D. Chancellor, “A Response to Perry Bulwer’s Evaluation
of Life in the Family,” Cultic
Studies Review 6, no. 2 (2007), https://articles1.icsahome.com/articles/a-response-to-perry-bulwer-s-evaluation-of-life-in-the-family.
And for my reply, see: Perry Bulwer, “A Rejoinder to James
Chancellor’s Response to My Article,” Cultic
Studies Review 6, no. 2 (2007):
167–72,
articles1.icsahome.com/articles/a-rejoinder-to-james-chancellor-s-response-to-my-article Those two articles are also on my blog at the link above.
Epilogue
1. “The Family International’s Executive Overseers Address the International CESNUR Conference,” 24-7 Press Release, June 13, 2009, www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/the-family-internationals-executive-overseers-address-the-international-cesnur-conference-104165.php
2. The 2009 International Conference of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR): www.cesnur.org/2009/slc_prg.htm
3. Peggy Fletcher Stack, “Once Dismissed as ‘Sex Cult,’ Tiny Church Launches Image Makeover,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 25, 2009, religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/2010/11/family-international-aka-children-of.html
4.
Stephen A. Kent, “The French and German Versus American Debate over
‘New Religions’, Scientology and Human Rights,” Marburg
Journal of Religion
6, no. 1 (January 2001): 15, 16, https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/3742/3559
5. “J. Gordon Melton,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/J._Gordon_Melton
6. J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, revised and updated edition (New York: Garland Publishing, 1992), 224–31.
7. James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, eds., Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating the Family/Children of God (Stanford, CA: Center for Academic Publication, 1994), www.exfamily.org/pubs/misc/sex_slander_salvation.shtml
8. “James R. Lewis,” Apologetics Index, www.apologeticsindex.org/l33.html
9. Ian Reader, “Scholarship, Aum Shinrikyôô, and Academic Integrity,” Nova Religio 3, no. 2 (April 2000): 372, https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/3/2/368/71108/Scholarship-Aum-Shinrikyo-and-Academic-Integrity
10. Reader, “Scholarship,”: 372, 378.
11. “Apologetics and Academic Supporters of The Family,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jules_-_Apologetics_and_Academic_Supporters_of_The_Family
12. Stephen A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, “When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters,” Skeptic 6, no. 3 (1998), in the section “Biased Studies,” www.xfamily.org/index.php/When_Scholars_Know_Sin
13. Stephen A. Kent, “Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual Historical Study of the Children of God’s Founder, David Berg,” Cultic Studies Journal 11, no. 2 (1994): 135–88, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/COG-Lustful-Prophet.pdf. See also: Stephen A. Kent, “Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God,” Journal of Religion and Health 33, no. 1 (spring 1994): 29–43; reprinted in Spirituality in East and West no. 1 (1997): 16–22, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Misattribution-in-COG.pdf
14. “Payment Received from the Family,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/J._Gordon_Melton#Payment_received_from_The_Family
15. J. Gordon Melton, The Children of God: “The Family (Signature Books, in cooperation with CESNUR, 2004).
16. Susan Raine, “The Children of God/The Family: A Discussion of Recent Research (1998–2005),” Cultic Studies Review 5, no. 1 (2006): 29–72, articles2.icsahome.com/articles/the-children-of-godthe-family-raine
17. Stack, “Makeover.”
18. “Reboot Documents,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Reboot_Documents
19. Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd, Talking with the Children of God: Prophecy and Transformation in a Radical Religious Group (University of Illinois Press, 2010).
20. Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd, “Reboot of the Family International,” Nova Religio 17, no. 2 (February 2013): 74–98, https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/17/2/74/70735/Reboot-of-The-Family-International
21. Ibid.
22. “Susan Claire Borowik,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Susan_Claire_Borowik
23. Claire Borowik, “From Radical Communalism to Virtual Community:The Digital Transformation of the Family International,” Nova Religio 22, no. 1 (2018): 59–86, https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/22/1/59/71152/From-Radical-Communalism-to-Virtual-CommunityThe
24. Ibid.
25. “The Love Prophet and the Children of God” (documentary transcript), XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/The_Love_Prophet_and_the_Children_of_God
26. Peter Wilkinson, “The Life and Death of the Chosen One,” Rolling Stone 977/978 (June 30–July 14, 2005), https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Rolling_Stone:_The_Life_and_Death_of_the_Chosen_One
27. Amy Bril has been interviewed in many media reports and documentaries, including Children of the Cult and the A&E series Cults and Extreme Belief: www.aetv.com/shows/cults-and-extreme-belief/season-1/episode-3
28. “Merry Jolene Berg—Memorial and Eulogies,” XFamily, www.xfamily.org/index.php/Merry_Jolene_Berg#Memorial_and_Eulogies
29. “Books about the Children of God, aka the Family International,” Religion and Child Abuse News, religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/p/books-about-children-of-god-aka-family.html
30. “Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs),” US Department of Health and Human Services, eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/publication/trauma-adverse-childhood-experiences-aces
31.
“Cult Killer: The Rick Rodriguez Story,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Cult_Killer:_The_Rick_Rodriguez_Story
32. Bethany Rielly, “We Feel Forgotten—Children of God Cult Survivors Demand Justice for Decades of Abuse,” Morning Star Online, March 7, 2022, https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/we-feel-forgotten-children-god-cult-survivors-demand-justice-decades-abuse
33. A partial list of legal actions: https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Legal_Action
34. For more on Verity Carter, Hope Bastine and Celeste Jones, see the following: Marion Scott, “Police Probe Children of God Sex Cult as Survivor Breaks Silence on Childhood Torment and Abuse,” Sunday Post, March 18,2018, www.sundaypost.com/fp/my-hell-on-earth/; Sharon Hendry, “How I Escaped the Children of God Cult That Destroyed My Childhood,” Sunday Times, August 9, 2020, https://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/how-i-survived-the-children-of-god-cult/; and Celeste Jones, Kristina Jones and Juliana Buhring, Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed (Harper Element 2008).
35. Andrea Willey and Stephen A. Kent, “Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse in Alternative Religions,” International Journal of Cultic Studies 8 (2017): 16–36, skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Prosecuting-Child-Sexual-Abuse-ICSA.pdf
36. Janja Lalich, “Perspectives on U.S. Cult-Related Court Cases,” JanjaLalich.com, May 16, 2015, janjalalich.com/blog/perspectives-on-cult-related-court-cases/
37. “Pseudonyms,” XFamily, https://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Category:Pseudonyms
38. Herbert L. Rosedale and Michael D. Langone, “On Using the Term ‘Cult,’” ICSA Today 6, no. 3 (2015): 4–6, https://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/topics/articles/onusingtermcult
39. Janja Lalich, “Cults Today: A New Social-Psychological Perspective,” JanjaLalich.com, January 17, 2022, janjalalich.com/blog/cults-today-new-social-psychological-perspective/
40. Janja Lalich and Michael D. Langone, “Characteristics Associated with Cults,” JanjaLalich.com, janjalalich.com/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/. This article is an excerpt from a book by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias, Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Richmond, CA: Bay Tree Publishing, 2006).
41. Caroline Hickman et al., “Climate Anxiety in Children and Young People and Their Beliefs about Government Responses to Climate Change: A Global Survey,” The Lancet 5, No. 12, December 1, 2021, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext
42. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “Closer Than Ever: It Is 100 Seconds to Midnight,” January 23, 2020, thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/2020-doomsday-clock-statement/
43. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “A Time of Unprecedented Danger: It Is 90 Seconds to Midnight,” January 24, 2023, thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
44. Radio New Zealand, “Janja Lalich: How Normal People End Up in Cults Like NXIVM,” February 27, 2021, www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018785404/janja-lalich-how-normal-people-endup-in-cults-like-nxivm
45. International Cultic Studies Association, “Common Myths and Misconceptions about Cults and Cultic Groups,” https://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/topics/articles/common-myths-and-misconceptions-about-cults-and-cultic-groups
No comments:
Post a Comment